Culture | History

As we know, Shavuot is the time when the Jewish people accepted the Torah and became Hashem’s nation. When we read the book of Ruth to children, we teach them the values of tzedakah, commitment, making choices, kindness, sharing, respect and faith.

"Throughout the story there are numerous examples of individuals focusing on each other. Most notably, Naomi and Ruth create a mutual relationship through their faith and determination."

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According to A midrash, “Every Jew who ever was, and ever will be born, stood together at Sinai when the mountain smoked and trembled and G-d revealed the law to them.” We assume that meant men, women and children. But not everyone sees it that way.

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You shall count for yourselves— from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving—seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count, fifty days… -Leviticus 23:15-16

According to the Torah (Lev. 23:15), we are obligated to count the days from Passover to Shavuot. This period is known as The Omer. An omer is a unit of measure. On the second day of Passover, in the days of the Temple, an omer of barley was cut down and brought to the Temple as an offering. This grain offering was referred to as the Omer, and that’s why we refer to it as the Counting of the Omer.

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Light is the overarching, central, definitive metaphor for Jewish understanding of all of reality…

Hanukkah begins four days before the new moon – the darkest night in the month of Kislev and the closest to the winter solstice, the longest and darkest day of the month. Like many other faiths, the Jewish holiday of Chanukah brings light into the darkest time of the year.

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Hanukkah is more than eating a bounty of latkes and donuts, spinning dreidels, and watching cartoon Adam Sandler sing 8 Crazy Nights. Each year friends whip out the “Ugly Hanukkah Sweaters,” double-fisting gelt and gefilte into their mouths while lighting candles, unsure if the menorah should ignite from the left or the right

So how do we find meaning in a tradition that as children means presents, and as adults, mirrors the theme of elongated holiday parties?

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Hanukkah comes early this year. Well, actually it doesn’t. It is always on the 25th of Kislev—it just seems early on the solar calendar.

Remember Thanksgivukkah? Whatever the date, it is when Jews all over the world light a Hanukkah menorah (a hanukkiah) to commemorate the Maccabean revolt and the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the second century BCE.

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Happiness is firmly ingrained in Jewish tradition. In fact, when we evaluate the newest scientific research on happiness, we can correlate much of its findings with the Jewish way of life. Judaism encourages community participation filled with food and tradition while research shows us that those involved in community are happier people. Judaism prescribes family values, relationships, celebrations and working through loss according to accepted rituals.

The science of happiness shows us that strong family relationships and supporting one another through loss, helps us to adopt a happier outlook toward life. Our Jewish traditions and way of life have been passed down through the generations, while the science of happiness is a fairly new endeavor. How wonderful that they correlate, that living a life steeped in Jewish culture and tradition helps us find happiness!

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Here it is, coming around the bend. That magical—yet somewhat frustrating—time of year we affectionately call Christma-kkah. It can be tough. The American holiday season has evolved—for better or worse—into a highly-commercialized, sugary-sweet present-fest. Kids run around barely able to contain their excitement.

Public schools are rehearsing their holiday talent shows. And while they strive to call them “Holiday Celebrations” and not “Christmas Extravaganzas” there is no real way to separate Christmas from church and state. It melts into our collective subconscious as soon as the “After Thanksgiving Sales” commence.

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When most American Jews think of their traditional Jewish culture, they think of Passover Seders and matzah ball soup, hamentashen and black-hatted, pale-skinned Hasidic men, and Yiddish-speaking bubbes (grandmothers) and zeydes (grandfathers). But, that is only one Jewish ethnic group of many.

From our very beginnings, we Jews were a blend of different groups. Ephraim Isaac, Ph.D., the Ethiopian-born director of the Institute of Semitic Studies in Princeton, New Jersey, explains.

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The experience encapsulated the kaleidoscope of cultures and experiences available in Jerusalem. Here I was, an Israeli-born, California-raised twenty-something, discussing performance art with an Italian Catholic, a French Jew, and a Christian Israeli, on our way to meet a Jewish Slovenian Ladino scholar and a Polish Muslim to have a food brought by Iraqi Jews fleeing persecution in their home country in the early 1950s.

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It was such a natural transition. Food writer and cooking teacher Amelia Saltsman has long been an ardent champion of local family farms and farmers’ markets—her best-selling cookbook “The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook” (Blenheim Press, $22.95) is as much an homage to the farmers, their histories, and their commitment to excellence as it is a collection of fuss-less, artful recipes—and now she brings her expertise and abiding respect for the food they grow to her newest cookbook, “The Seasonal Jewish Kitchen” (Sterling Epicure, $29.95).

“When I’m cooking, I really want to intensify the flavors that these farmers have worked so hard to produce,” she told me. “It’s a very mindful approach. I respect what the farmers have done and let the ingredients talk to me. There’s a very spiritual side to it that I didn’t consciously think about until doing this book.

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Have you seen the promo for the new movie, “The Intern” starring Robert Deniro as a 70-year-old man who takes a positon as an intern at an online fashion site? “When you turn 70 you can say, `Oh, my G-d, the warranty is over and I’m on borrowed time,’ or it can (be seen as) a whole new lease on life,” said Rabbi Mark Gross of Temple Beth Orr in Coral Springs.

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How do we grow a mensch? Inspire a generation of mensches? The Torah responds unequivocally: through education. We pass Jewish teachings from generation to generation to perpetuate a legacy of derech eretz, the value system that is imbued with Torah and secular education along with personal growth, self-discovery and insight into human relationships; values that our parents, grandparents and great grandparents modeled for generations.

Education begins within the home, and then extends beyond to our Jewish institutions including our schools, synagogues and community centers

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"Several years ago at a High Holiday Seminar, keynote speaker Rabbi Arthur Green, suggested that since Rosh Hashanah is considered the “birthday of the world” perhaps reading Bereshit was a more appropriate Torah portion–since Bereshit 1.1 commands us to “guard” the land implying our responsibility over it."

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While we celebrate Rosh Hashanah as the Jewish New Year, as the day the Hebrew calendar begins, that wasn’t always the case.

Nowadays we celebrate Rosh Hashanah on the first day of the fall month of Tishrei. But in biblical times, that period was explicitly called “the seventh month.” During the First Temple period (8th to mid-6th century BCE), the year began in the spring, on the first day of Nisan.

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When Daniella Silver, a young mother with a burning desire to write a cookbook, dialed fellow Canadian Norene Gilletz, the best-selling cookbook author and “matriarch” of kosher cuisine, as she is sometimes called, her heart began to race. “What will she say?” Daniella thought. ”Will she even meet with me?”

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"Moptwo is a more intellectual form of social media because instead of posting small snippets of personal activity or uploading photos, it is about one thing: articles."

"Many people still think of social media as being for “the kids.” Believe it or not, social media has already been around for a decade! As its audience matures, the needs and preferences of that audience that is also maturing. That’s why we’ve chosen none other than the co-founders of Moptwo, Josh Namm (one of Jlife magazine’s very own editors) and Charles Haspel for the business profile this month. I recently had the fortune of speaking with them while they took a short break from taking the technology world by storm!"

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The mother of a bride was adamant that their rabbi perform a traditional Jewish wedding. When the rabbi asked what she meant by “traditional,” she replied, “The groom must break the glass.” While there are many other beautiful aspects to a traditional wedding service, the breaking of the glass has become the universal symbol of a Jewish wedding. But what exactly does it mean?

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oday there is a revival in the Jewish traditional music klezmer, especially here within California. You may have heard Mostly Kosher perform last month at the Orange County Yom Hatzmaut celebration. Mostly Kosher is a Jewish cultural revival band based in Southern California. The band is composed of eight multi-talented musicians and directed by Leeav Sofer.

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Jlife Magazine had the opportunity to interview veteran actor and longtime philanthropist, Kirk Douglas. Born to Jewish immigrant parents, Douglas got his start on Broadway, kept us on the edge of our seats in countless movies, and now, in his latest book plucks at our heartstrings with his poetry and candor. In his latest book, Life Could Be Verse, Douglas gives us a taste of his humble roots, his real life “flubs,” his 60 year marriage to Anne, and the nachus and sometimes sorrow he has experienced with his children and grandchildren. A compilation of Douglas’s poetry, history, and family photos, the book also makes it clear that, despite a severe stroke, Douglas is just as dynamic off the screen as he is on the screen—even at 98!

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Women’s Voices is the largest annual gathering of Jewish women in Orange County and the signature campaign event of Women’s Philanthropy, supporting the Generations Fund of Jewish Federation & Family Services (JFFS). Women’s Voices was named the #1 Luncheon in Orange County for 2013 by the OC Business Journal Charity Event Guide in the Top 5 Luncheons category. Last year in Orange County, Women’s Philanthropy raised over $1,000,000 of the total JFFS campaign.

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Literary critic Adam Kirsch is reading a page of Talmud a day, along with Jews around the world. Tractate Ketubot has ranged widely over many aspects of the laws of marriage, in the process revealing some of the rabbis’ key assumptions about gender rela

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These days it'd be pretty hard to walk without a ticket onto a boarding airplane bound for an international locale. Between the TSA and sniffer dogs, any would-be stowaway would likely see the inside of a jail cell pretty fast. But before September 11, in